18 Part 17

[Present-Lara]

Lara went through another round of interrogations. At this point even Parker and Ria were becoming impatient. Ria went out after sometime while Parker questioned her some more. When Ria came back her face suggested that she had come across valuable information.

"We found out Lucien Lethar is alive."

They looked at Lara to see how she would react to this but her face was a blank canvas. She had already met him so she wasn't really surprised. She knew it looked suspicious to the officers sitting across from her because it looked like she already knew he was alive and that meant she had lied to them during their earlier investigations but she could not fake her surprise when she was actually downright annoyed.

"You don't look surprised." Parker pointed out, Ria nodding beside him.

"I don't know how to feel about that really," Lara replied honestly. "He and I are over. He is alive – that news sure makes me happy but I don't really care."

"I have found out some important information, Ms. McEnroe," Ria leaned on the table in front of them. "I came to know that the body in the forest which was wrongfully deemed as Lucien's was actually your friends'. Steven Parkinson. The school authorities found out later that it was in fact Steven Parkinson who was assumed to have dropped out by then when he was actually just lost in the woods.

Lucien had apparently come back to his house the day he was assumed to have died. He basically ran away from school," Ria explained. "Nobody knows how Steven spent so many days in the woods and nobody ever searched for him was because the teachers thought he was expelled and sent back home but in truth he was an orphan so no one reported him missing."

Lara knew that. But hearing the truth from someone else finally registered the fact into her head. Steven was dead.

"Lucien didn't come back to school because he didn't want to. He moved to Canada and I assume you don't know yet it was actually not him was because you immediately moved away, is that correct?"

"Yes," she whispered. She couldn't stay in that school anymore. It was filled with memories of him.

"Which brings us back to Maya," Parker pulled her out of her thoughts. "We thought he might be behind this for some unknown reason but he is currently residing in New York."

She squeezed her hand softly. "We have taken up enough of your time already. We will call it a day, okay?"

"Okay," Lara nodded and stood up.

She walked back towards her home slowly half expecting Lucien to be there but he wasn't. She entered the lonely apartment and dropped down on the couch. The events of the day had tired her more than she could have thought possible and all she wanted to do was go to sleep but her mind could not erase the image of Steven's dead body.

Her phone rang. She looked at the number now knowing it belonged to Lucien. "Will you or will you not come with me?"

She remained quiet for a while. Lucien patiently waited on the other side.

"I don't want to," she said. "I just-"

The line went dead. She looked at the phone screen for some time hoping he would call back but he didn't. Had he decided to leave her alone after all? She did not want to go back to being with him.

A murderer, but Michael was still a human.

She vaguely wondered who was worse, Lucien or Michael. Neither of them needed a reason to kill or hurt somebody else. While Michael looked like the sweet devil kind Lucien was downright the demon lord.

She laughed to herself at the thought. She needed to stop worrying about things for a while and let them be. She got under the comforter and closed her eyes, wanting a peaceful night's rest for a change.

*

The next day at college was something she would remember for the rest of her life.

Most of the students have stopped coming after the incidents started happening so there were really few attending the classes, Lara being one of them. Now that she knew the actual murderer was dead she could do her classes in peace.

It was almost three, classes for the day had ended and she sat still at her desk. Most of the students were already gone and no teachers were within sight. She laid her head down on her desk.

And then she heard a loud thud followed by a gunshot. She jolted up at once and looked around her. There were only five people in the room with her who looked as surprised and terrified as she felt.

She had a hunch what it was and she instantly rushed forward to lock the doors and began pushing benches forward to barricade the doors.

"What are you looking at? Help me," she hissed at her classmates. "There's a shooting happening."

The guys got back their senses first. The only other girl beside her in the room tried shut the windows and was beginning to pull the curtains across when Lara stopped her. "That will attract attention.

They called the police as more gunshots echoed in the distance followed by screams. Lara looked down from the window hiding herself at an angle from where she could not be seen and saw a girl bleeding out on the ground below.

Her heart clenched at the sight.

"Laraaaaaaaaaa."

She heard Lucien's terrifying voice and a chill ran down her back.

It was him.

He was standing right beside the bleeding girl and looking up at the building. He could not see her yet.

He started throwing stones and broke down every single window facing him. Why did he have to be so crazy? And where was the police when you needed them most? At this rate they would all be dead before they even reached.

"What do we do?"

Lara looked at the guy beside her and smiled sadly. "He wants me so if I go he will leave."

"No," the other girl spoke. "You can't! We can escape now."

"But how?"

Lara kept watch on Lucien while they slowly pulled back the seats barricading the door and opened it. One by one they began leaving. Lara watched as Lucien broke down window after window and glasses shattered to the ground.

"Come on," the girl urged her and she went out. There was another door leading out of the school through the gym and they took that route. They would have to cross the huge amphitheater on their way and others were already halfway through while Lara tried her best to run along. She was certain about the fact that by the time Lucien had finished breaking the windows they would have left.

They crossed the numerous number of bodies lying lifeless on the ground. Only if they had gone home as soon as college was over.

She came across her favorite teacher Ms. Adamson and her eyes filled with tears. Why did Lucien do this?

She was doubting her decision of not going with him before but she now knew for certain that she would not go back to a madman.

"Tch tch."

Lara froze with her hand on the doorknob of the amphi. That was a sound she was very familiar with.

"Running away baby? What did I tell you about that before?"

Never run away from me. I will always find you.

"Let them go," she gestured to the students now running as fast as they could down the stairs of the amphitheater to get to the gym. Lara was the only one who had stopped. Lucien dropped the assault rifle he had and Lara stared at him, trying to read his mind.

He reached at the back of his jacket and pulled out a revolver.

"I would have but they have seen my face now and I don't want to go to jail at such a young age."

Tears rolled down Lara's cheek as she processed her surroundings. She knew she didn't have enough time to pick up the assault rifle and attack him and it was probably empty considering the fact that he himself had dropped it. She knew him well enough to know he was not that dumb a man to drop a loaded gun. She also knew she couldn't stop him from killing her classmates so she closed her eyes, not wanting to watch the horror show unfolding in front of her.

He first shot down the girl. One of the boys stopped instantly while the others stopped momentarily to look back, horrified.

"Bang. Bang. Bang." He said as he shot them all dead with a smile on his face. The last boy was almost at the door and dropped to his knees just as he had turned the knob.

"Now, come with me."

He walked towards the girl who was still alive as she tried to get up. Lara cursed the girl in her mind. She was such a fool. She should have pretended to be dead and she would have been spared. But now that Lucien had noticed her, there was no way she would survive. Sure enough, Lucien took out a pocket knife and slashed across her throat. The girl dropped to the ground, crying in pain. She went limp after a few seconds.

His eyes locked with Lara's and hers reflected pure fear.

He backed her into the wall and put his hands beside her head, pinning her to her position. He leaned forward and kissed her but she did not respond. She was not moving at all. It seemed as if she had frozen in her spot.

"You don't like me." he said sadly. His face dropped as his eyes darkened. "And I created such a mess to get to you."

He gestured towards all the bodies and Lara shuddered in fear. It couldn't be, she told herself.

"If you don't like me then I have no use for you," he stated calmly, his head cocking to the side. He put the gun to her head and she closed her eyes, finally accepting the fact that she would rather like to die than be his.